Recently I read a report published on Plos One entitled: Decision Rightness and Emotional Response to Abortion: A Longitudinal Study. In the study is the much loved statistic by those who support abortions that 95% of women (up to 3 years after because that is as long as the study has gone so far, they forget to add that little part) do not regret their abortions. The study then goes on to conclude that the women who did have stronger feelings of guilt and so forth about their abortions was due to the fact that they lived in areas where the social stigma against abortion was greater. The study then concluded that to not help these women feel bad about their abortions society should work on getting rid of the stigma against abortion.
Now when I read studies, especially when they claim to be “unbaised” and don’t admit failings in their study, I have found that it is in my best interest to read the opposing sides review of the study because then I can begin to see the limits of the study. (I would much prefer the limits and the bias in the study were already stated but that is rare as it is hard to see outside your own bias box) Anyway to see a review of the limits of the study, and how that study sits in relation to other studies performed please visit this link here. Of course be aware that this is a prolife page so they will have their own bias. (Like I said its the “other” side).
Ok, sorry about that aside about bias and studies, I’m simply tired of the weaponization of statistics in our society and I know how easily data can be twisted to make it say what you want it to. Ahem. Moving on.
I first came across this 95% statistic in an article posted by Planned Parenthood on their Facebook page. This article was written by a mother who was going through her 3rd miscarriage. She was comparing her miscarriage to the abortion she had had several years before and saying that they were basically the same. Looking through the comments people were saying things like “Yeah its the same! Miscarriage is mother natures form of abortion” and so on and so forth. Funny that they couldn’t acknowledge the choice involved in an abortion as opposed to a miscarriage since they claim to be pro-choice.
Unfortunately this statistic nor this mother’s story holds the weight that some people seem to think it does, at least not among those who are prolife, here is why: Let’s say that we are in 1948. Three years after WWII ended and the atrocities of the holocaust are coming to light. Lets say, in an attempt to understand how everyday people could participate in such atrocities, there was a survey done of all the Nazi’s who worked in concentration camps. (There wasn’t to my knowledge so don’t try to go find this study, I’m totally making it up). Let’s say this is what it said:
It was found, that 95% of those surveyed did not regret their time working in the concentration camps. In an open ended section one person wrote: “People die all the time, of disease, starvation, old age; death is inevitable, mother nature is the number one killer. Gassing people in gas chambers is no different.”
Another person wrote “At first I felt some regret but I had a lot of social support for being a Nazi and working in the camps, my parents supported me, my friends were all Nazi’s and worked in the camps, even my government supported me, and now I have moved on and made great successes in my life and career, why should I regret it?”
Still another person said, “Look, what I did was lawful at the time. I was convinced of its necessity.”
It was noted that the people who had the most difficult time with their actions were those who came home to strong social pressure opposing what they did in the camps. Some expressed regret and even experienced depression over what they did. However if steps are taken to remove the strong negative social stigmas against the events performed at the concentration camps, these people would fair much better both socially and mentally.
Does it follow that those who have chosen to take a life and not regret it, mean that the taking of that life was right? Does it mean that rights were not violated? Does regret or lack of regret make right and wrong? Clearly that is not the case with the Holocaust (and although there are no statistics, there is plenty of evidence that many did not regret within the first three years: although they did later as society recognized the horrors that were committed.) Is dying of natural causes the same as someone choosing to end a life? Should we try to avoid feelings of regret and depression from taking life? Or admit that certain negative stigmas are there to help keep us on moral ground and in the case of the Holocaust, to avoid it from happening again.
Today abortion has had a hold in America for so long that the governmental allowance and social acceptance of it is enough to know that many women are victims of abortion. Can they be blamed if their moral compass has been skewed by what society is telling them?
If a woman feels regret and depression over her abortion she should receive the help she needs to heal and come to an emotionally stable place. It is not the outside pressures that need to be adjusted, but the inside guilt and remorse that needs to be acknowledged and addressed. And like we would never want the Holocaust to happen again, a woman who regrets will hopefully choose other alternatives in the future and refuse to get an abortion again.
So, either way within the prolife community, whether the 95% statistic is legit or not, it is not what sets the prolife moral compass. Both the statistic (if it is legit, and/or the best way to measure the effects of abortion on women: which is arguable in and of itself) and the fact that some see miscarriage and elective abortion as the same thing, is merely a symptom of how far society has twisted their beliefs about what constitutes life and human rights. But, like the Holocaust, which now is universally acknowledged as a horrible, horrible catastrophe never to be repeated, our beliefs concerning life and human rights can also become untwisted. So here’s to the day when elective abortion is looked back on with the same horror that the Holocaust or slavery is now looked back on. Let us say about abortion, as we say now about those events: never again.
And for the “5% ” out there who are experiencing pain because of your abortion, here are some resources for you to find support and healing:
CareNet of Puget Sound provides abortion recovery: Call 253-272-1818 or email healingtide@carenetps.org
Washington For Life 